SUSTAINABILITY IN CLOUD SERVICES
Cloud rising With many businesses prioritising sustainability and ESG goals, cloud services have an important role to play. But it isn’t just the services themselves, vendors also must prove their own sustainability credentials if they are to be successful.
With environmental, social and government (ESG) goals, along with the wider desire to become more sustainable, driving how many businesses operate today, many look to their vendors to help achieve this and cloud services are no exception. As Becky Stables of Catalyst-ERP notes, recent research shows that 86% of businesses consider ESG and sustainability important when selecting a cloud vendor, with carbon footprint and net zero targets being key factors. “This trend is shaping the future of cloud services, as vendors respond to growing customer demands for greener, more responsible operations,” she adds. “Increasingly, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are joining the drive towards more sustainable operations. This shift is partly driven by customer expectations and regulatory pressures, but it’s also due to the recognition that ESG strategies can create long-term value. Smaller businesses may have limited resources, but their agility allows them to adapt to and benefit from these evolving priorities. For them, partnering with a cloud vendor that can help meet ESG goals is a key differentiator, allowing them to align their operations with the sustainability expectations of larger partners and investors.” Mark Appleton, chief customer officer at ALSO Cloud UK, agrees, adding that on a government level, there has been a focus for ESG to be part of strategic plans moving forward. “This has now become part of customer and stakeholder expectations,” he says. “There is an increasing interest in the wider business approach to reducing their environmental footprint, specifically for customers invested in brands that share their values. This ensures repeat business but also turns customers into brand advocates, driving word-of-mouth marketing and growth.” It also means that businesses in the channel, many of which are SMBs, must pay heed to it to support the broader ecosystem, adds Richard Eglon, CMO at Nebula Global
Services “As a result, there has been more expectation put on SMEs to set out their own ESG strategy, including how they are going to
reach their net zero targets,” he says. “The channel supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and for this
reason businesses need to be much more collaborative in their approach to ESG with the Goliaths supporting the Davids on their journey. The larger channel firms rely on their partner network to deliver their set business outcomes so it is imperative that they can report on their own Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for incumbent partner to report on their own 'downstream' and 'upstream' emissions.” What customers want Customers’ demands regarding ESG are also changing. “Companies are looking for more than just technical capabilities and cost efficiencies, they want providers that can support their ESG objectives,” says Becky. “Key criteria include carbon neutrality, renewable energy usage and transparent reporting of the environmental impact. Businesses also seek vendors that innovate to improve energy efficiency and minimise waste across data centres, networks and infrastructure. “This is especially relevant as businesses pursue net zero targets. Many organisations expect their vendors to demonstrate clear carbon reduction strategies, such as utilising 100% renewable energy, optimising resource usage, and providing tools to help customers measure and reduce their own carbon footprints. Data-driven insights into energy consumption and carbon output have become an essential part of the offering.” Cory Hawkvelt, CTO of NexGen Cloud, adds that customers are also seeking higher energy efficiency solutions that can offer increased performance, with lower energy consumption. “For example, customers are now prioritising the most power efficient GPUs for their individual workloads, rather than just selecting the most powerful GPUs,” he says.
Becky Stables
catalyst-bi.co.uk
Mark Appleton chief customer officer ALSO Cloud UK
also.com
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